Dream of the Red Chamber (Complete Three Volumes)

Author: Cao Xueqin (Qing Dynasty), Gao E (Qing Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: In China, "Dream of the Red Chamber," "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "Water Margin," and "Journey to the West" are widely known as the "Four Great Classical Novels," almost household names known to all. In the history of Chinese literature, no book has had as many copies or as frequent printing as "Dream of the Red Chamber." In the preface to Cao Wei Yuan's "First Edition of the Dream of the Red Chamber" (Cheng Jia Ben), it is mentioned that the book was "placed in temples and monasteries." Additionally, in the preface to Cao Wei Yuan and Gao E's "Second Edition of the Dream of the Red Chamber" (Cheng Yi Ben), the phrase "market copies" is used, indicating that "Dream of the Red Chamber" was already widely circulated among the people during the manuscript stage and highly regarded by readers.
"Embroidered illustrations," also known as "embroidered woodcuts" or "illustrated portraits," originally referred to embroidered images of Buddha and human figures. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, illustrations of individual characters included in plays, novels, and book covers were often published in markets, drawn with fine lines and detailed descriptions, and were also called "embroidered illustrations." Known versions of "Dream of the Red Chamber" range from woodblock printed editions from the 56th year of the Qianlong reign to lead-type editions from the late Republic of China period, totaling over 100 types. Starting from the Cheng Jia Ben and Cheng Yi Ben, they were accompanied by relatively primitive but somewhat rough illustrations. Later published annotated editions also included similar illustrations. Among them, the Wang Xue Xiang annotated edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber" published in the 12th year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty featured 64 illustrations. Of course, during the circulation of "Dream of the Red Chamber," many classic illustrated works were derived from it, such as Qing Gao Qi's "Illustrated Poems of the Dream of the Red Chamber" and the stone-printed "Enhanced Annotated Complete Illustrated Jin Yu Yuan" by Shanghai Tong Wen Shu Ju. As for the edition with the most illustrations, it is undoubtedly the "Enhanced Annotated Illustrated Dream of the Red Chamber" printed in Shanghai Guang Bai Song Zhai during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, which included 240 illustrations—two per chapter.
This edition is the "Enhanced Illustrated Classic Collection" of "Dream of the Red Chamber," with the illustrations primarily selected from the stone-printed "Enhanced Annotated Complete Illustrated Jin Yu Yuan" by Shanghai Tong Wen Shu Ju. The first 80 chapters of this book are mainly referenced against the Jia Xu, Ji Mao, and Geng Chen editions of "Dream of the Red Chamber Reannotated by Zhi Yan Zhai." The last 40 chapters are mainly referenced against the Cheng Jia Ben and Cheng Yi Ben.